QTL analysis of fertility-restoration against cytoplasmic male sterility in wheat

Abstract

The cytoplasm of Triticum timopheevi causes cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in common wheat (T. aestivum) cv. 'Chinese Spring' (CS), and that of Aegilops kotschyi causes CMS in spelt wheat (T. spelta) var. duhamelianum (Sp). CS has fertility restoring (Rf) genes against the latter cytoplasm and Sp has the ones against the former. To know the genetic system concerning to CMS, we crossed 66 F8 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between CS and Sp as males to the alloplasmic lines of CS and Sp having the cytoplasms of T. timopheevi and Ae. kotschyi, respectively. The fertilities of respective F1 plants derived from the crosses were examined for QTL analysis. The major QTLs detected in both systems were located on the short arm of chromosome 1B. One minor QTL on chromosome 2B was also commonly detected in both of the systems, while other minor QTLs against T. timopheevi cytoplasm were distributed on the chromosomes 2A, 4B, and 6A.